Photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions
On Friday, June 3, 2016, WBC Silver Featherweight champion Ronny Rios (25-1, 10 KOs) scored a dominant, second-round TKO victory against Efrain Esquivias (17-4-1, 10 KOs) at the Belasco Theater in Downtown, Los Angeles.
The scheduled 10-round fight headlined a night of action that was televised via Estrella TV and streamed on RingTVLive.com.
Rios, of Santa Ana, California, came out fiercly with a jab to the top and a hard right hand to the body that immediately backed Esquivias up.
From the very beginning, Esquivias did not look at home in the ring, a fact that can be attested to from the sparrings I had a first-hand look at shortly before the fight. Besides struggling to make weight, Esquivias simply did not look like his old self.
Indeed, Rios spent the entire first round landing hard shots, and all Esquivas could do is move from one side of the ring to another, doing his best to deal with Rios’s agression.
In Round 2, after taking more punishment, referee Luis Caiz Jr. was forced to stop the fight. Esquivias was simply not responding enough.
Ronny Rios stops Efrain Esquivias in Round 2. #LAFightClub pic.twitter.com/DCyNt4PuGK
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) June 4, 2016
“I knew Esquivias from my amateur days, and I remember him being a tough fighter,” said Rios.
“I know that I trained harder, and prepared for this fight as if I would have prepared for a champion fight. This is just another step in the ladder to get my shot at a world title,” said Rios.
Esquivias was previously a solid contender in the Super Bantamweight division, but those days are long gone and Rios took advantage of that as a stepping stone in his career.
Ochoa Knocks Out Gonzalez, Estrada Excites in Decision Victory
In the co-main event, Super Lightweight prospect Zachary Ochoa (15-0, 7 KO) scored a brutal, first-round knockout victory against Luis Joel Gonzalez (11-4-1, 6 KOs) in a scheduled eight-round fight.
Ochoa spent most of the fight smartly outboxing Gonzalez, though Gonzalez was a tough opponent.
However, in Round 6, Ochoa timed a perfect overhand right that immediately knocked Gonzalez out. After several moments, Gonzalez regained consciousness, but it was a disturbing sight to see nonetheless.
“In this fight, I proved that I could make it all eight rounds, while maintaining all my power,” said Ochoa.
“The endurance in my legs kept me steady throughout the fight. I saw the opportunity, and in the moment that I threw my right overhand punch, I knew he wasn’t going to get back up,” said Ochoa.
In the first televised fight, Seniesa Estrada (7-0, 1 KO) scored a six-round decision victory against Christina Fuentes (4-8-5) in the first female boxing fight to occur on LA Fight Club.
The fight was a veritable brawl as both fighters met the canvas. Estrada, however, won a clear decision on all the scorecard front front of a crowd that chanted her name,
“I came determined to win,” said Estrada. “Being in the sport since I was eight, I have the boxing skills to take on anyone. I wasn’t hurt at all in the fight, not even when I tripped up, and like the true fighter I am–I got back up,” said Estrada.
“Honestly, despite the outcome, I came to show that women can perform in this sport, and even do it better,” said Fuentes.
“Estrada and I came out to make a statement, and I feel like we did that as the Belasco’s first female fight,” said Fuentes.
